Fears grow as Koreans up nuclear activities

By Paul Eckert in SeoulMarch 2 2003
The Sun-Herald

Korea, which is reported to have fired up a key nuclear reactor, now looks set to raise tensions further by preparing to start reprocessing plutonium and test a ballistic missile, officials said on Friday.

As South Korea's new Government expressed worries about suspect activity at the Yongbyon reactor, reports from Tokyo and Washington indicated the North might be moving to cross what experts call critical "red lines" in the nuclear stand-off.

In Washington, US officials said North Korea was continuing to prepare a spent-fuel reprocessing plant and could have it operating as a source of weapons-grade plutonium within a month.

Pyongyang's apparent determination to revive a fully operational nuclear arms program is a huge headache for the Bush Administration.

Although the diplomatic tensions are apparently unnoticed on the streets of South Korea, the nuclear developments are likely to increase the drumbeat of calls from Seoul, Beijing and Moscow for the US to talk directly to North Korea. ");document.write("

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Washington has resisted this in favour of multilateral diplomatic pressure on Pyongyang.

Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov offered a rare criticism of old ally North Korea on Friday, telling reporters in Beijing: "We think threatening methods are not a solution to the problem."

A Japanese daily newspaper reported on Friday that US satellite photographs and other intelligence indicated North Korea had tested a rocket booster in January for a Taepodong ballistic missile capable of hitting Tokyo.

Japanese Defence Minister Shigeru Ishiba told reporters he had no information about the report, but said Japan did not believe North Korea was about to launch a ballistic missile.

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi spoke to her South Korean and Chinese counterparts by telephone on Friday, urging close co-ordination between Seoul and Tokyo and calling on Beijing to use its influence with Pyongyang to resolve the crisis.

The South Korean Foreign Ministry indirectly confirmed media reports that the Yongbyon reactor had been restarted.

"Our Government voices deep worry and regret at the North Korean reactivation of the five-megawatt reactor which is not only unhelpful to Korean peninsula peace and stability but also violates the nuclear non-proliferation efforts of the international community," it said.

Last week US officials said the North had restarted the Yongbyon reactor, north of Pyongyang, which had been mothballed in 1994. At an adjoining reprocessing plant, plutonium for use in nuclear warheads could be extracted from spent reactor fuel rods.

Other US officials said a steam plant associated with the reprocessing plant had been fired up and chemicals delivered that could be used for reprocessing.

"They could start [reprocessing] on fairly short notice but they haven't yet," said one official.

Activating the reprocessing plant would give North Korea the means to boost its nuclear inventory quickly.

North Korea has not commented on the latest developments in the crisis, which it blames on US hostility and says can only be defused by bilateral talks and a non-aggression treaty.

But Pyongyang's two main newspapers said Washington was full of "political imbeciles" and US-South Korean military drills foreshadowed a plot to invade the North.